Carrier bags

Carrier Bags at B&Q

At B&Q, we’d like to see fewer single use carrier bags used. Reusing a shopping bag instead of throwing it away after just one use helps to reduce the amount of waste households have to deal with. We’ve been working on our carrier bags and they are now all made from recycled materials.

Across the UK, B&Q is now required by law to charge customers 5p per single use carrier bag.

B&Q welcome this requirement – in fact we started charging for single use carrier bags in England ahead of legislation, donating all of the proceeds to BBC Children in Need. In the last year, we have seen a 34% reduction in the use of carrier bags and have raised nearly £80,000 for Children in Need.

What B&Q are doing with the proceeds from the charge?

The requirements differ between nations. Where we donate the proceeds to charity, we ensure that the full 5p that we receive from the customer goes to the good cause, even though B&Q pay VAT on that sale. This means that B&Q is contributing to charity as well as passing on the proceeds.

England

We are donating the full 5p charge per bag to BBC Children in Need.

This exceeds our legislative requirements in England.

We are also donating 5p for every reusable carrier bag sold to BBC Children in Need.

Northern Ireland

We donate the net proceeds to the Department of the Environment who use it to deliver local projects to improve the environment.

This meets our legislative requirements in Northern Ireland.

We are also donating 5p for every reusable carrier bag sold to BBC Children in Need.

Scotland

We are donating the full 5p charge per bag to BBC Children in Need.

Regulations in Scotland do not specify where the payment should go, but there is an expectation that the net proceeds will be donated to good causes.

This exceeds our legislative requirements in Scotland.

We are also donating 5p for every reusable carrier bag sold to BBC Children in Need.

Wales

We are donating the full 5p charge per bag to BBC Children in Need.

Regulations in Wales do not specify where the payment should go, but there is an expectation that the net proceeds will be donated to good causes.

This exceeds our legislative requirements in Wales.

We are also donating 5p for every reusable carrier bag sold to BBC Children in Need.

We have also been working to reduce the waste impact of our packaging – for example, we moved our bedding plants from expanded polystyrene packaging to easyGrow with reusable recycled PET trays.